Results are presented from a recent study within the Australian Temperament Project (ATP), in which a group of children with significant behaviour problems, and a comparison group, were selected from the sample at 11–12 years and home-visited, with assessments of clinical diagnoses, intelligence, school achievement and social competence, and a variety of family functioning indices. Approximately half the behaviour problem group received at least one diagnosis. Twice as many boys as girls were diagnosed. Rates of comorbidity were high but, generally, within—rather than between—the broadband internalising or externalising spectra. Concurrent family functioning measures discriminated between groups, but not as strongly as intrinsic child measures, and the particular family variables that best discriminated between groups showed sex differences. High stability of behaviour problems from earlier years was evident, and the behaviour problem group differed from the comparison group on measures of temperament, behaviour, and context from early childhood; both findings reinforce the need for early intervention.The implications of these and other findings from the ATP, particularly the need for early intervention, are discussed.

The diversity and resilience characteristic of the closing phases of human development are investigated by longitudinal study of change and development in about the last 30 years of the life-span. The Australian Longitudinal Study of Ageing (ALSA) is a population-based psychobiosocial and behavioural study of a cohort of 1,947 adults from Adelaide over the age of 70 years. Four annual waves of data collection started in 1992. At Waves 1 and 3, an extensive personal interview covered psychological, behavioural, social, biomedical, economic, and other contextuol variables. Participants also had the opportunity to provide psychological data on cognitive and psychosocial (self) dimensions through completion of a series of objective assessments and standard paper-and-pencil inventories. Data from these two waves is used to describe and explain changes in cognitive and psychosocial domains, particularly the complexity of functioning, potential gains and losses in memory and well-being, and the interplay amongst these aspects of functioning. Once a range of noncognitive and cognitive contextual factors are taken into account, individual differences in processing and intrapersonal resources contribute significantly and substantially to functioning in each domain, and the contribution from ageing per se is minimised. Furthermore, a “limited impact” hypothesis of late life development suggests that later declines may be a byproduct of rather large decrements in some subset of a population, with the majority showing stability. Insofar as heterogeneity increases with ageing, age per se is increasingly less able to predict functioning. This work identifies some key sources of heterogeneity that may be indicative of ageing well.

This study reports a cognitive-behavioural intervention implemented to increase academic performance of an 11-year-old boy with Attention-Deficit Disorder/Without Hyperactivity. The child was trained in the use of positive self-talk to reduce the cognitive distortions and deficiencies associated with his symptoms. Reports from the child, his parent and his teacher, together with objective measures and observations, were used to assess the efficacy of treatment in reducing symptoms and increasing academic performance. Results suggest an increase in academic performance with a greater improvement in productivity rather than in accuracy. These improvements could be related to the decreases in the problematic symptoms of in attention and anxiety. Unconditional conclusions cannot be drawn, however, about the effect of the intervention on impulsivity, because of the difficulties found in measuring this construct Improvements to overcome this problem and other modifications that may improve the overall validity of future studies are suggested.

In the predominantly sociometric approach used to investigate the social and personal experience of adolescents with ADHD, teachers, parents, peers, or observers rate their perception of the sociol relationships experienced by the adolescent with ADHD.The adolescent's subjective perspective of his or her situation has been largely ignored.The present study examined self-reported peer rejection, peer-related loneliness, coping “strength”, and interpersonal concerns experienced by 84 adolescents: 22 with ADHD Predominantly Inattentive Type (ADHD-PI), 19 with ADHD Predominantly Hyperactive Type (ADHD-PHI), and 43 nondisordered adolescents. The adolescents, from southwest Sydney, attended mainstream schools.Adolescents with ADHD-PI reported significantly less manageability and less concern about others' feelings and about relationships with others than did nondisordered adolescents.Adolescents with either ADHD-PI or ADHD-PHI reported significantly less global sense of coherence and significantly more peer-related loneliness than did nondisordered adolescents. No significant difference was reported between the adolescent groups on measures of comprehensibility, meaningfulness, and concern about being rejected and humiliated. These contrasting self-reported profiles of the social and personal experience of adolescents with ADHD and nondisordered adolescents have implications for researchers and practitioners.

According to Farrell and Lunt (1995), educational psychology is in danger of becoming a second class profession in applied psychology. Controversies about the role and training of educational psychologists need urgent attention for the profession to prosper. A clear view of roles that educational psychologists are expected to fill and of roles that are best filled by educational psychologists will improve the content and nature of training programs. Graduate training programs are likely to be where change is either resisted or nurtured. Six issues facing educational psychologists in Australia and ways that training programs may contribute to their resolution are canvassed.

The Western Australian Child Health Survey (WACHS) surveyed 4- to 16-year-olds and their families. In a pilot study of 189 households, one in five children reported mental health prob1ems.A clinical calibration trial confirmed a link between morbidity on the Child Behaviour Checklist and DSM-III-R diagnosis in clinical interview. In the main study of 1462 households, one in six young people showed at least one mental health problem. Adolescent risk behaviours were associated with developmental coping issues and some behavioural problems. Poor parental health and mental health and some school environments were factors related to adverse health outcomes for young people.

A number of crucial issues face educational and developmental psychologists as they attempt to make sense of the emerging climate for contemporary practices. Downsizing, contracting out of services, and changes to standards of practice are examples of tensions in the work climate. This compilation of brief presentations at a symposium at the 33rd Annual Conference of the Australian Psychological Society (APS) is aimed to inform members of the APS College of Educational and Developmental Psychologists (CEDP) about some compelling issues in contemporary educational psychology work.

Bully-victim problems at school may have negative effects on students' mental health. Adolescents (N = 845) attending schools in South Australia anonymously answered questionnaires that included a measure of suicidal ideation. Student involvement in bully-victim problems at school and the emotional reaction to being viaimised by peers were also examined. Self-report but not peer nomination indicated that high levels of peer victimisation and relatively ineffective coping responses were independently and significantly associated with suicidal ideation. Implications for school policies and practices to address the issue of youth suicide are discussed.

The coping styles of 61 mother/daughter dyads were investigated to establish the extent to which mothers and daughters share coping strategies and to examine cohort effects on coping. For this sample, mothers and daughters generally agreed on the preferred coping styles. However, one strategy showed a positive correlation between mothers and doughters, and two showed a slight negative correlation. When similarities of individual profiles were used to determine clusters, most of the groups which appeared contained mainly mothers or doughters. Cohort effects appear to be much stronger in determining patterns of preferred coping strategy than are family influences.

The validity of standardised ossessment instruments and their normative data is a significant issue in school psychology. Consequently, this study of 515 coeducational Queensland Year 5 students investigated the generalisability and robustness of the norms of two contemporary self-concept instruments, the Self-Description Questionnaire-I (SDQ-I; Marsh, 1988) and the Perception of Ability Scale for Students (PASS; Boersma & Chapman, 1992). Both tests have received praise for their theoretical construct but have been criticised for the regionalisation of their norming populations.The results of this study demonstrated that the Queensland students had higher mean PASS self-concept scores than the North American students used in the norming of all the PASS scales. For the SDQ- I, a similar distribution pattern was shown for Queensland students and SDQ-I norming sample, with the exception of small variability with Reading and Mothematics self-concepts scales. Issues associated with interpreting and reporting of assessment results and with the assessment responsibilities of educational psychologists and counsellors are discussed.